


I am Machine

by Hideaway_In_The_Imagination_World



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Alec deserved a better ending so I wrote this, Alec keeps beating himself up for what he did and Lefty's just trying to comfort and help him, Alec's kind of traumatised and the Rockstars are supporting him, Fazbear Frights, Fazbear Frights Book Series, Fazbear Frights: Fetch, Lefty is Alec's guardian at this time, Lefty is trying to look out for the teenager, Lefty's a separate entity from the Puppet/Marionette, Lonely Freddy continuation, Other Fazbear Frights characters and story events will be referenced, Other important characters from Lonely Freddy will be present in some chapters, Robots are sentient but they aren’t possessed, Yep this story takes place in modern times with the Rockstars being active
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26595928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hideaway_In_The_Imagination_World/pseuds/Hideaway_In_The_Imagination_World
Summary: Alec thought his life was officially over, he hasn’t seen his family in months and he's been trapped in a robotic body with no one knowing, he resides to surviving in the pizzeria, in misery, remembering all the mistakes he made. Until one day it all changed when an employee found him, he was turned over to one of the animatronics: Lefty.Realising who he really is, Lefty is promising to help him get his body and life back.(A continuation of Fazbear Frights Fetch: Lonely Freddy)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 62





	1. Trapped Forever

**Author's Note:**

> So I read Lonely Freddy and a few days later I wrote a story that continues it (because Alec deserves a better ending), so enjoy this little take on what happens next!  
> Also the name of this story is inspired by Three Day Grace song “I am Machine”, the lyrics of the song will sometimes to be referenced in the story.

* * *

_**I am Machine, I never sleep, I keep my eyes wide open** _

_**I am Machine, a part of me wishes I could just feel something** _

_**I am Machine, I never sleep until I fix what's broken** _

_**I am Machine, a part of me wishes I could just feel something** _

* * *

It didn't matter how loud he screamed, no one could hear him, his cries were lost among the confusion, and in the silence, he couldn't plead for help. He couldn't signal distress as no one would even understand his problem, he didn't even understand for a while. He wished he could feel something again. Something real to reflect he was still alive inside, he wanted to be alive again.

Alec had always been terrified of the dark, especially at Freddy's. It seemed to change at night.

He was used to seeing this place full of life, excited kids screaming, various beeps and music from games, hushed conversations of the employees in back rooms or the corners of the room, the animatronics singing some happy tune on stage.

At night it was a place of shadows, monsters in the rooms, the dark consumed everything, making it look more scary like he was inside a cemetery now.

Alec was trapped here now, his first real night here was so utterly terrifying, he was violently shaking, he hid inside a vent, after what he had just seen, he had to hide to keep safe.

Alec couldn't just sleep at night, it was like when he was trapped in the Lonely Freddy, he lost the ability to sleep. He literally had to stay awake, even shutting his eyes and trying to relax didn't work. He had nightmares instead of sleep, nightmares that brought him to tears, but no one was there to comfort him so he'd cry alone and calm himself down after a few hours, even so, these episodes only lasted about one to two hours, so they couldn’t possibly be counted as getting some sleep.

He had spent so long here that he was just moving hiding spots, he didn't want to be found, by the employees, the animatronics or the kids.

He knew if the employees saw him, they would immediately dispose of him because he was "not in the system", he also had a suspicion the Lonely Freddy was now discontinued because he hadn't seen one in a while. He wasn't sure about the animatronics and he didn't want to find out what could transpire if they saw him, kids were obviously... Well... He was nearly torn in half by the kids once, he didn't want to be abused by the kids.

Alec would rotate between hiding in the vent path that existed between the back office and one of the party rooms, he'd also hide up on top of the wooden cabinets in the kitchen, just as long as he stayed away from the edge and kept quiet, he was okay. He'd also get into a little gap under the stage and hide there for hours, the only problem there was he'd hear everything above him and if he had to listen to Freddy sing their theme again, he would pull out his ears.

He'd sometimes hide in the ball pit, just as long as he hid well, and didn't choose to hide there during the day because that was obviously too stupid.

He would always move hiding spots, usually moving after closing time at 9:00 pm on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and 10:00 pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but before the nightshift began at midnight. Sometimes he would move after the night shift finished at 6:00 am but before opening time at 11:00 am.

So it would give him between 7-8 hours of movement, less if he accounted how the employees would arrive between 9:30 am and 10:45 am and they would stay to clean up before the place was officially empty at about 10:30 pm. He usually would sneak, he was too wary of being recorded by the security cameras on the wall or the animatronics would "wake" up if they heard him being too loud.

Another problem was his hiding spots were almost always cold, so he decided to look for something figuring there might be a square of cut fabric he could use to keep warm. He was surprised when he looked in one of the many back rooms, he discovered a fluffy purple blanket with white stars patterned on in a box, he had taken it to keep himself warm and something comfortable to lay on.

This reality he faced now was scary and surreal.

His dreams of going home were slowly fading, he would sometimes listen out and look from his hiding spots if he saw his family, but he never saw them, every day, he felt his heart break more from guilt and sorrow. The days had blurred into one another, he was aware some time had passed, he wasn't sure how much, he hadn't seen a calendar in a while.

What happened during the Nightshift made him unnerved most of all.

The animatronics around the pizzeria would all wake, usually, in a random order, they would get off stage and act like they were "normal" humans, which made Alec wonder if what happened to him also happened to others. If these robots were actually humans who had accepted their fate of being trapped in a walking tomb that looked like a children's imaginary friend.

He'd usually see Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica leave the stage, he'd also seen Foxy join them, along with a black bear he had learnt was named "Lefty", and a strange puppet-like creature who would climb out of the box at Prize Counter and walk around in a strange cycle of "I definitely have no bones!", without a care in the world it appeared.

The six of them usually did various behaviours, like rehearsing songs, skits and having arguments, he had seen that Puppet have spats with Foxy, in fact, Foxy was usually arguing with somebody.

Interestingly enough the one who appeared to be the outsider in the group was Lefty, he didn't talk at all, Alec hadn't seen him speak anything, not even a whisper. During arguments, Alec had seen Lefty ignore everything else, looking disinterested in the shouting match, he'd scratch his ears, it appeared sometimes he would fall asleep briefly. The closest thing to him talking was when Alec saw him play the saxophone once. Alec reasoned that in every friendship group there was at least one was less social than the rest, Lefty happened to fit that brief. 

The animatronic behaviour was a strange ritual that occurred every night like clockwork, it never stopped, like him, he never stopped running and hiding.

Alec, tonight was particularly afraid by a loud storm outside, because of how much darker it seemed with shadows crawling all around and he was worried a bang of thunder would wake up an animatronic and they'd approach him if they saw him. So he took no time in moving and dragging his blanket behind him to another hiding spot, he had stayed out of the dining area where he knew all the animatronics were and instead walked about other areas.

He had found he was still particularly cold which was kind of unbearable and annoying, so he snuck around backstage and finally settled on a nice spot he hadn't picked before, it was a nice dark room some distance away from the dining room, he noticed it felt warm, which was inviting to him. He had determined it looked pretty abandoned but he saw a big reclining chair and some books in a tower next to it. **_How strange,_** he thought, _**then again those robots acted like people, and if they aren't people, that's even weirder.**_

He could reach up into the recliner and snuggle himself there nicely but he wondered if it was a risk. Any risk here wasn't worth it to him, any risk would jeopardise his safety.

Maybe if he covered himself well with the blanket.

Alec climbed up and laid his blanket down, folding it over himself a few times then disappearing into the folds of the blanket.

Thankfully he couldn't sleep, he would be alert and ready to go if he heard someone moving towards him.

He just needed to stay still and be quiet. That's how he was getting by. That's how he was surviving.

But he wasn't living, he didn’t even remember the last time he felt alive.

He went back to a familiar thought he kept having. His life was so miserable now, he had no one to turn to, no one to help him, _**who would want to?**_ His mind asked **_I'm a bad person, bad people don’t deserve help._**

He felt weak, he didn’t know if he would forget to be a human and he hated how he took everything he had for granted, he hated himself.

This body he was in reacting to his emotions with ear movements, so the big fluffy bear ears had lowered like a cowered dog, he felt like he was defeated with no way to stand up again.

His family didn't know or maybe even didn't care he was gone, the thought they stopped loving him had bothered him so much, and he couldn't leave at night to go home, he was terrified to do so, the animatronics were like walking security cameras, the times he did approach the doors, they were locked and there was no other way to get out, so he had searched for a spare key hiding somewhere, reasoning there had to be one somewhere, but hadn't found anything, which made him feel more hopeless. It was like the world was telling him to give up and die already.

His reality was turned upside down, he was supposed to be a human, he was supposed to be home with his family... but he made mistake after mistake, it was like a domino effect, every mistake he made led him down a destructive path, it led him to act like a bad kid, to hurt his sister, to being in the same room as the Lonely Freddy. It led to his whole life, his identity being stolen and him being bound to a different body, one he had to force to work for him. Now he had to live with all the consequences, he couldn’t undo what happened, this was his karma, his punishment, he had to live with this, he had to suffer watching his family love an imposter in his place, he had to suffer losing everything, he had to suffer for every mistake.

He hadn't spoken to anyone in so long, he barely did anything, he felt like everything he was, had been fake and shallow, which he hated, he felt like there was no point to continuing to cry, especially when he was both in state of acceptance of his situation but depressed he couldn't find a way out, he had cried so many times already, he felt selfish, he was a brat, he deserved this.

He was trapped, and no one knew.

No one would come to rescue him.


	2. Found

* * *

Alec had opened his eyes, feeling heavy and groggy like he just woke up, wait... Did he actually fall asleep without meaning to? He had tried so many times to fall asleep but he never succeed, he was plagued by nightmares that woke him up every time, he actually felt like he woke up and he didn’t remember hearing the animatronics wake up.

This wake up felt unnatural, however.

_**Probably because of this stupid body**_ , he shook his head to shake away any sleepiness.

He wouldn't complain about getting some sleep.

He pulled the blanket apart and he blinked when his face was hit by light.

No. No. No.

He was in a different room, someone moved him.

He was stupid, he didn't think he'd fall asleep, he didn't think **_anyone would find him._**

He was in a bigger room, one he hadn’t seen before. He was in a sofa chair, he saw a desk with some various items, like a pile of paper, a cup with pencils, pens, markers, some books stacked in a neat pile, a stand was there and Alec noticed a piece of paper was on the stand, he narrowed his eyes when he saw black scribble on the paper, trying to make it out. Wait. Those were musical notes.

It was a piece of music, with the notes in order, some unintelligible words below each written note, maybe they were lyrics?

Alec didn’t understand music, it didn’t really interest him, his sister, on the other hand, seem to have an interest in learning a musical instrument, but she couldn’t decide which one. Alec would rather listen to music then create it.

There was a black wardrobe that seemed strange, firstly, it had a padlock around the handles, Alec immediately tried to reason why the wardrobe would be locked, but he could only think of bad reasons and didn't even want to know what they could possibly be.

_**Great, I’m probably with a lunatic**_ , his mind said.

He saw a bookshelf with three separate shelves, one had books, others had small items that seem to allude to whoever was in this room, they liked to create/play music. The items included reeds that would be used for instruments like the clarinet and saxophone, some guitar picks in a small clear container with a post-it note attached that said: “STOP STEALING THESE UNLESS YOU WANT TO REPLACE THEM BONNIE, SIGNED L. A”. The bottom shelf had things like spare blankets, three pillows all stacked in a neat tower and a small black box with a padlock on it.

_**This person doesn't want their stuff touched by the looks of it.** _

Alec had seen on the opposite side of the room was a big bed, it had a messy pile of blankets and pillows all within a pink colour palette. Must be a woman, Alec thought, the note that had L. A was most likely the initials of their name, he didn't know anyone who had those initials, then it made sense that whoever L. A was, was most likely an employee at the pizzeria.

He had barely moved from where he was, he heard something, he looked and saw a door, the handle was turning, he immediately threw the blanket over his head and hid, he was unsure who or what it was.

He heard the door open and close, he slightly moved and peeked out enough to see a little, he saw a man, a strange man, with white and pink hair, he was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, he was slightly chubby, not in a very overweight way, more looking cuddly honestly. He had black pants and his shoes were clicking as he walked like he had metal on the soles of them.

He couldn't describe how relieved he was that it was just a human, but at the same time, he was also anxious, this person surely couldn't know of his situation.

He walked to the bookshelf, he kneeled down and picked up the small black box, he had pulled a key out from his pocket, and jammed it into the padlock, opening it, Alec was surprised to see he just pulled out a pair of what looked like silk white gloves. He put the box down and walked over to the locked wardrobe and also unlocked that, his white gloves in one hand, he reached in with his other hand and pulled out a black case.

He walked over to the bed with the case, Alec watched him pull on his gloves, then he reached into the case. Alec wondered what he'd pull out, a human skull? A weapon?

Nope. He lifted it up and Alec saw a violin.

God Alec had become much more jumpy now. He hated it, he hated being scared, he hated _**being like this.**_

The man positioned the violin and gently lifted up the bow, he then slightly adjusted his position then began to play a soft, gentle tune, with the notes he played slow and in a small loop of what Alec heard was five notes altogether, played equally and in a rhythm.

After a few minutes of the playing, Alec and the man heard a knock, Alec knew he heard it also because he stopped his playing.

He put his violin back in his case, walked to the door and opened it.

“Oh, Lefty! Good you’ve come like I asked! Come in... I wasn’t doing anything important, just playing violin....”

_**It was that robot**_ , Alec was now feeling dread.

Lefty had stepped in, the man move at such an angle that Alec saw his face completely and recognised who he was.

His title was the Music Man, but he was certain that wasn’t his real name. He was the only human performer, Alec had seen him in the pizzeria on the day of Hazel’s birthday, he was just walking about entertaining kids, with a spring in his step, a smile and... He was definitely carrying around a ukulele on the day. One of his big draw ins was the fact he would play a different instrument every day.

In fact, he was almost certain he saw him giving him a strange look at some point before Hazel decided to go into the Wind Tunnel. _**Like he knew what he did and was frowning disappointingly at him**_. He could be imagining it, he did know he had seen him wandering around, he probably made eye contact with Alec at one point and that was it, nothing strange about a man who worked at a children’s pizzeria to make a living.

Wait why was Lefty here in particular? He was definitely missing some context here, they likely had a conversation at one point.

“I know you don’t like leaving the pizzeria but before I left I found something you may be interested in.”

“Music Man” walked closer to Alec, who covered the little gap that let him see and stayed still.

“It's a Lonely Freddy...” Alec felt like he was lifted off the ground.

_**Stay still**_ , his mind said. So he did just that, pretending he was lifeless, when his blanket was pulled away he saw Lefty and the “Music Man” close up looking directly at him.

“I remember how you hated these, but this one doesn’t seem to work!” Alec saw Lefty's face turned to visible rage, he bared his teeth which Alec swore looked like real sharp bear teeth.

“Now, now Lefty, don't look like that. Like I said... It doesn’t seem to work...” He turned Alec in his hands looking at him, he grabbed his hand and forcibly pulled back before releasing it, “I thought we got rid of all these but it seems like one had slipped through for quite some time! It's missing the hat and bowtie... But other than that, it seems... Okay? Maybe dusty, I did sneeze when I picked it up. Didn’t we get rid of all these things four months ago? Hey, Lefty what was wrong with them again? Making some weird noise screeching noise that disturbed people? And they kept being broken by kids roughhousing?” “Music Man” turned Alec back and he was face to face with them again. 

Lefty didn’t say anything, but he nodded like he was neither confirming nor denying.

“I swear the concept was silly, it was a cure for an “unwanted child” which should never be the case! Every child should feel happy!” — _**That's a good principle but these things don't work as intended**_ , Alec thought, he then saw Lefty frown then narrow his eyes at him like he heard him somehow.

_**Could he have?**_ These robots don't seem to be normal regardless.

Now Alec saw a noticeable difference. Lefty only had one eye, he was missing his left eye, it was just an empty black void, is that why his name was Lefty? **_Was it an insult to him?_**

Lefty at that moment bowed his head like he was perplexed, but he was still looking at Alec. It was almost like Lefty _**could see through him.**_

“I wanted to ask Jeremy if we could bring in a Plushtrap animatronic to play games with the lonely kids, I know we have one in the back room and it's just gathering dust... It's not doing anything! I figure we should use it!”

Lefty nodded then made a gesture that seemed to say “up to you”.

“Not in a talkative mood? Or are you worried Mini Freddy could be listening in?”

Lefty rose up one hand and shook it side to side which was “kind of” gesture, he also was softly nodding. It was true that Alec was listening to them but “Music Man”'s tone had suggested that it was somehow malicious.

“These things were creepy in my opinion... Always bugging kids... A robot wanting to be your best friend? I mean, zero offence to you or any other animatronic but... Something about the Lonely Freddy always made me scared to leave my three nephews under the age of 10 alone with it....” His face filled with dread for a second.

_**Not for kids at all**_ , Alec could agree.

“And you agreed with me, unlike the other staff! I swear to god, I was born with strange hair and the other staff treat like a nuisance! I only am the Music Man part-time... You know me Lefty! My passion is in music! I love Freddy's but I don’t want to keep working there when no one will even bother to address me as Lewis Anthony, heck, they could even call me Anthony and I'd be happy with that!! I don’t mind little kids calling me Music Man or even Maestro, but the staff can’t be bothered calling me by my real name, can you see why it's infuriating me?”

Lefty nodded then placed his hand on his shoulder.

“That's why I'm telling you first I'm going to be turning in my one month notice tomorrow, so they’ll have plenty of time to look for a replacement if they want. I can’t tolerant this blatant bullying, yes I understand, they don’t like me because I'm mixed, they don’t like me because they've figured I'm polysexual, they don’t like me because I speak different languages in public, they don’t like some music styles I play... I've worked there for eight years, I shouldn’t be treated this way... If he was still alive, he wouldn’t let this slide...... Anyway back to this... What would you do about it? I know the right thing is to let Benedict have it to deactivate... But you did tell me if I found anything strange, I should notify you.”

Lefty reached and grabbed Alec by his neck, pulling him away from Lewis and holding him in his arm.

“Oh, you’ll take it back? Good... I was worried if I left it in the recliner chair that somebody was going to sit on it... Maybe it's an okay one? I know some weren’t making that strange sound.”

Lefty turned around and opened the door.

“Oh, you're leaving. I lost track of time, you have to be back on stage before the night watch arrives. Have a good night,” Lewis smiled at him.


	3. Things Are Not What they Appear

* * *

Alec was taken back to the pizzeria, from what he understood and gathered from that conversation between “Music Man” AKA Lewis and Lefty, he was not in the pizzeria at that point, it appeared he had been inside what was Lewis's bedroom, in his house. It didn’t take long for Lefty to seemingly sneak outside Lewis's back door and disappear into the thick wilderness behind his house.

Alec wasn’t sure if Lefty was intentionally swinging him around so he'd get a couple of tree branches smacked in his face, but Alec kept quiet and still, maybe if he convinced Lefty he was broken, he'd leave him alone. It sounded like Lefty hated Lonely Freddy's, Alec couldn’t blame him, Lonely Freddy was a jerk.

Alec had the idea to tell Lefty that he wasn’t actually a Lonely Freddy, but something told Alec that Lefty wouldn’t easily be convinced by his word alone, Alec needed some concrete evidence to prove he wasn’t a robot but actually a human teenager.

It didn’t take long before Alec saw he was walking back into the pizzeria, Alec thought at that point maybe he should have squirmed away from Lefty and run off, as this was a window to escape.

It was too late, Alec saw Lefty had a chain necklace with a key threaded around his neck, he used the key to lock the door once he was inside. So a spare key did exist after all, and Lefty was the one who had it, Alec had begun to doubt it existed. Maybe Alec could steal the key off him some point in the future and use that to leave?

**_And do what_**? His mind asked about that suggestion, **_My family won't believe me. They just won't believe me. I don't have anything to prove my real identity._**

Alec saw they walked pass the animatronics, who were all still in their “respective” places, Freddy, Bonnie and Chica on the main stage, Foxy on his own stage, creepy and unmoving in the dark.

Alec knew Lefty didn't have a set location to stand like how the others did, he'd sometimes be on stage next to Bonnie on the left side, other times he was frozen at Prize Corner, standing there like a guard, sometimes he was nowhere to see. Alec thought they didn’t move until after midnight but he knew it wasn’t midnight yet and Lefty was conscious.

Lefty walked pass the stage, not even regarding the other robots, he made his way to the backstage area that was located near the office, he pushed open the backstage door and Alec counted that they went through three different doors before Lefty opened a strange door at the end of a hallway and reached his hand in to switch on the light.

It was a bedroom.

Simple, grey walls painted, a large bookshelf, all with books stacked into a neat line.

There was a desk with only a few pens and pencils on the surface, a clock, some stapled papers that looked important, there was also a black hat and bowtie laid on the desk, on the side of the desk was wooden steps. There was a black closet next to the bookshelf,it has silver handles and metal legs for some reason. There were two different beds, one was bigger and darker, with a black and white colour palette. The other one was like a toddler bed, with blue sheets and a white blanket.

It was occupied too.

By a small little bear, with plushy looking white and pink fur. It reminded Alec of the “Helpy” bear on the safety posters in the pizzeria, but he didn’t know he was a real robot as he never saw it or heard it being mentioned in such a way that suggested it existed.

Lefty placed Alec on the bigger bed, leaving him lying flat, Alec saw him walk to the smaller bed and place his hand on the little bear's shoulder, shaking him.

The bear woke up, his mouth opening wide as he yawned, he then looked at Lefty.

“Oh! It's midnight already? Wow, time flies... I've complied all the tax returns for the business and I left them on the desk in the office for Jeremy and Michael to look over. Hey did you go out? Did you get something? I like Lewis’s food, did you get something from there?”

Lefty shook his head, Helpy got out from his bed and looked at Alec, “Oh... Umm... What's this doing here? Why did you bring it in here...? Do you want me to throw it out?”

“No,” this was the first time Lefty spoke, he didn’t say a single word until now. Alec had wondered if he didn’t talk at all because he never heard him speak even when he heard the other animatronics, he only knew Lefty was there was because he was addressed several times by the others.

“Why not? You hate them,” The little bear stretched himself out, raising his arms up high before they fell to his sides, he was like the size of a toddler or a very young child compared to Lefty most likely being seven to eight feet tall.

“Dunno, this one seems different....” Lefty shrugged like he was indifferent to this situation.

“Different how?” Helpy frowned.

“Remember the secret I told you? I could communicate with someone called Marionette?”

“You know it's strange how you've never met let alone seen this Marionette yet it somehow has a way to talk to you frequently in your head,” Helpy's eyes narrowed.

“Well... Marionette explained I have the ability to use magic as, like a _**spiritual eye**_ , I think the term was... It explained a lot, I could talk... To people that weren’t there, they were ghosts Helpy, ghosts.”

“The girl you said you see? She's a ghost?”

Two robots having a perfectly “normal” conversation. Alec was unsure if he should leave or not, he ran a risk of being in a bad place, either way, he didn’t know what Lefty was going to do with him and the thought of being alone in this room with him scared him beyond reasoning.

“Some people can just detect evil, and well, this particular Lonely Freddy... It doesn’t give me that strange gut feeling. Lonely Freddy whenever I was near it or held it, it gave me a creepy feeling... Like it wanted to steal my soul. Something evil was there, that's why I would always make sure it can't lure kids away, I did see something... Strange happening once....”

When the word **_evil_** came up, Alec listened more closely, he now knew Lefty hated these things..... **_It must be serious for a robot to have the capability to hate another robot,_ **he thought.

“Strange how Lefty? What did you see?” Helpy curiously asked.

“I don't know how to explain it completely Helpy... I was on a break, I just had pizza thrown at me, so I went looking for the storage room where we keep all the cleaning items... But I walked in and saw... A little girl, about seven, staring into the eyes of a Lonely Freddy, it was strange none of them seem to notice I was in the room, I approached them, I saw both... Of their eyes were glowing... I tried to ask what it was doing, it immediately broke eye contact with the girl and hissed at me aggressively, telling me to go and mind my own business. I was taking none of that unacceptable behaviour..... I saw a wrench on one of the shelves and used that, I smacked it a couple of times over the head, I wanted it to stop whatever it was doing. That girl......”

“Lefty was she okay?!?” Helpy pleaded for the answer looking scared and concerned, Alec himself was scared hearing this story as he started to recall his own encounter.

“It took a while, she was still unresponsive... I took her out the room once I was sure I broke Lonely Freddy enough that he wouldn’t get up again for a while, I brought her to Jeremy, he was concerned and told me we would give her an hour to come around before we call an ambulance because she was still breathing and her heart rate was normal... But she wasn’t moving or blinking and her eyes were still glowing....”

Lefty pointed to his bookshelf, “It reminded me of a book I read, it was magical illusion book about _**Mind Control**_ , there was a whole section on hypnosis, it talked about noticing when someone could be in a deep trance. One indicator was “abnormal eyes” as the three most known methods to hypnotise are eye contact with a person who possesses hypnotic abilities, sound hypnosis, and blowing magic powder into their direction and making sure they inhale it so it messes with their brain, and the old trick of looking at a ticking pocket watch, it does work but the pocket watch has to be enchanted... a cursed object essentially.”

_**Hypnosis?**_ Alec questioned, **_Is that what Lonely Freddy did to me? Is that why I couldn’t call for help???_**

“I kept an eye on her... She came to about thirty minutes later, she was slow, it took a few minutes for her to start talking again, she explained what she remembered, she was sad because she couldn't find her parents, and the Lonely Freddy had found her and brought her into the room so they were alone... I found her parents and they were so relieved she was okay... To be honest the behaviour I saw Lonely Freddy presenting, it sounded extremely close to a “ ** _Predator who lures potential victims away because they want to go in for the kill undisturbed_** ”. I don’t entirely know why or how Lonely Freddy somehow has hypnotic abilities or what for purpose even.... but I can’t shake the feeling the purpose is _**evil**_. I asked Michael about it and he sounded confused, so I assume it's not a “listed feature” that is if it's even a feature, to begin with.”

“That's scary Lefty!” Helpy shouted.

Lefty rose up his hand to silence Helpy, “I am aware... Especially...” He looked around then kneeled down to Helpy and quietly whispered, “When you consider we apparently use to have a man working for Fazbear Entertainment that was convicted of murdering kids..... He's disappeared from what I heard... But he was disturbed needlessly to say... I think the Lonely Freddy’s are possibly a gift from him... I heard he did... Use magic for atrocious reasons...”

He stood up and looked at Alec, he walked over towering over him. Something unexpected happened.

Lefty lifted him up and looked him directly in his eyes, he then sat down on what Alec presumed was his bed, Helpy had jumped up and sat next to him.

“I just find it too peculiar this one... Doesn’t give me an overwhelming urge to kill it immediately, which is what I usually get.”

“Do you get another feeling from it?” Helpy asked in a hushed tone

“Funny you ask.....” Lefty's face lifted slightly. “I feel... Kind of compelled to... Ask what makes it different, I also feel like I need to hang onto it for a good reason... Like it has a use... Or maybe... It's not a Lonely Freddy I'm detecting and there is something completely different there....”

**Can... Can he see me? Does the robot know I'm not a Lonely Freddy? Could I tell him?**

Lefty narrowed his eye, “What could it be...?”

_**He wanted to talk.**_ Alec could introduce himself. _**He looked friendly...** **But it could be an illusion,**_ Alec argued with himself, _**he looks like a cuddly teddy bear but could be more like a real bear that would rip me to pieces if even moved, does he want me to let my guard down so he can strike?**_

“I just worry it could mislead me also... I've been lied to before Helpy... I've also been deceived a few times ... And it hurts me....” Lefty looked around with a nervous frown on his face.

“Well, I can protect you! So can Captain Foxy! And... Lewis would protect you also!!”

“You know much I appreciate you?” Lefty’s frown turned into a warm smile, it was a look that a parent would give their young child, a look of being proud. Something Alec had rarely seen. 

“But you're very small, you're only a little bigger than a Lonely Freddy,” Lefty immediately continued, he placed Alec down with his back against the wall sitting up. Lefty petted Helpy's head softly, “As for Foxy... He might be smart... However, we don’t really interact unless we need to... Finally... Lewis is human... And he'll be leaving soon... He's handing in his one month notice tomorrow... He'll move on in life. That's both the best and worse part of being human, you move on in life, even physically and mentally you grow up,” — _**Not me,**_ Alec thought at that moment.“Lewis will do other things which will make him happy, but he's leaving us.”

“Well... We can still protect you Lefty! You said yourself we are like a family!” Helpy countered his argument.

Lefty chuckled, “We are a family. All of us. Now, Mike is probably here now, so get your hat and bowtie on and ask if he requires your help...”

“Yes, Yes,” Helpy nodded, he got off the bed, he walked over to the desk, he climbed up the steps and reached to grab the small black hat and bowtie. Helpy walked back over as he placed on his hat, adjusting it to perfectly sit on his head, he then attached his bowtie on.

“Do I look like a superstar?” Helpy asked.

“You’re adorable, I see why Mike always loves your company at night,” Lefty answered standing to his feet.

“What about... The thing?”

_**The thing**_ , that was the name for him, like he was an abomination from a laboratory or a freak in the circus. They looked in his direction, Helpy looked terrified, while Lefty's face was pretty plain.

“I don't know, I haven’t checked, but I know this one must be the missing Lonely Freddy, identification number 33-7-21. I forgot about it honestly and thought it could have been stolen, that was a problem for a while, parents were stealing them for their children because they were easy to steal.”

“I never understood, why couldn’t parents just buy their kids a puppy or cat?” Helpy asked.

“Kids are rarely a problem, it’s usually dear old mother or father, spoiling their child like a brat,” Lefty answered.

“What about... Teenagers?” Helpy questioned.

“Oh... Teenagers... Most I find are unpleasant. I did hear rumours a few months ago that a teenage boy tore the arm of one of the toys we have...”

Alec was now ashamed of that. “Seriously? Teenagers are pretty destructive for no good reason... Are you still thinking about.....?”

“Yes. It really hurt.”

“Well, if anyone thinks to kick you like a football ever again, I'll kick them when no one else is looking...” Lefty growled.

“And Lonely Freddy?”

“I’m undecided.”

“Why? You said it was a threat to the pizzeria once, I remember you said that to Mike on the 3rd of April, I was in the office eating the bag of candy Lewis got for me, I had never seen you get so angry before,” Helpy said.

“Oh no, did I scare you Helpy?” He looked worried.

“At the time, but I realise you were angry for a reason now. I'd be angry too.”

_**April 3rd.**_ Alec replayed that date, _**it was two weeks before Hazel's birthday here, two weeks before... This happened.**_

“So, is there a threat?” Helpy frowned.

“There might not be one,” Lefty shook his head, “Well? Are you going to keep playing dead?” He turned to Alec, “I'm good at telling my differences between someone pretending and someone who isn’t.”

He knew. Should he speak? Lefty was looking at him, he wanted to him to speak, but engaging with this guy could open a world of problems.

“Does it even work? Maybe it's broken?” Helpy suggested, obviously not seeing what Lefty was seeing because Lefty somehow knew Alec was alive.

“It obviously moved,” Lefty immediately reasoned looking at Alec harshly. “Lewis found it in the recliner chair they use for sleeping during break time. It wasn’t put there by someone. It would have had to get there itself.”

_**He was definitely caught now. Lefty knew he was alive.** _

“I figure by now if this thing hasn’t moved in front of me, there must be a reason. There could be multiple reasons why it either can't physically move now or it is choosing not to move... If you're afraid I'll bite your head off... I won't,” Lefty's face had changed and he looked more friendly like he had gone from Nightmare bear to Care Bear with a sincere smile and his arms open.

He extended out his hand and held it in front of Alec, his smile lowered a bit. “But you need to talk to me,” Lefty sounded like he was pleading for an answer, “Please talk to me and confirm you aren’t a threat to me, Helpy, or anyone else, animatronic or human.”

Alec kept still and quiet, not focusing his eyes on Lefty's hand afraid the slightest movement, would lead to a swift consequence.

“If you are unable to talk but you hear me and understand, blink once.”

“Come on friend!” Helpy encouraged him to speak, Alec didn’t even move his eyes. They could do something much worse than what Lonely Freddy did. He had an image in his head of Lefty snapping his neck like a twig.

“Hmmm...” Lefty pulled back his hand, he looked at Alec then muttered something Alec couldn't hear but he knew it was about him somehow. “Maybe I need to... Check my book....” He turned and walked to his bookshelf, his eye scanning for a book, “There could be some sort of thing we could do to communicate... There must be a way to create a line of communication... We'd need to dismantle him most likely...”

“Are you sure? Okay then...” Helpy had turned and went to help him find the required book.

Alec could figure the human equivalent of being dismantled was a surgery that pulled out all your organs like a harvest, the idea made him shiver and he realised; _**There's no way in Hell I’m staying here where this bot can pull me apart like a lab project.**_

With their eyes away from him, Alec slowly moved from the wall and looked for a hiding spot around the room, somewhere on this half of the room where Lefty couldn't find or see him, going to the door and leaving wasn’t an option, Lefty would immediately see him.

There was a black chest against the bed, Alec immediately thought he could climb in and hide out of sight.

**_I'm not letting you freaks hurt me,_** he slid off the bed slowly but made a noticeable thump sound on the floor, which caused Lefty and Helpy to turn around.

He really didn’t think this part through.

There was a small moment of silence, Lefty and Helpy staring at Alec, Alec looking back at them. He had no idea what they were thinking, but now they had seen he could move because he couldn’t have slipped off the bed by accident and landed on his feet perfectly.

He backed away quickly as they stepped forward then Alec dropped down and scrambled under the bed in a panic.

“Hey! Hey! Come out! I won't hurt you! Come on!” Lefty got on the floor and reached under the bed, his hand managed to not reach far enough to Alec, who had pressed himself against the wall to avoid his massive paw grabbing for him.

“I can crawl under!” Helpy said.

“Please don't get snuck Helpy... And don't get hurt...”

Alec freaked out when he saw Helpy was able to get onto the floor and crawl under the bed towards him.

“I'm not coming too close friend!” Helpy stopped just a few inches away from him, “Just want to know who you are!”

“It’s a Lonely Freddy! It’s the one that’s been missing!” Lefty exclaimed sounding frustrated, “Helpy, don’t look it in the eye or it’ll do something bad to you!!”

He was warning Helpy like he wanted to protect him.

“Look... We want to know who you are... You don't act like a Lonely Freddy..... Why?” Helpy asked Alec, “Is your programming different? You know... Lefty seems scary but he is actually very nice! I am too! I'm Helpy, what's your name friend? Or shall I call you Fred?”

_**This might be a trick,**_ Alec reasoned. There's no way they would be this nice to him if they didn’t want to take advantage of him.

“Lefty! Matie! We need yer to practice our new show routine! Captain's orders! I'm coming in cause I know yer in there!”

“Foxy don’t open the door!” Lefty yelled, the door, however, had opened and Foxy stood there, holding the door open.

Alec took the chance and darted out, “What is that?!?!!” Foxy barked as he ran past.

“You let him out! Helpy, help me get him back! Hey you! We just want to talk, please!!”

This was not good.

Alec needed to lose their line of sight and hide somewhere. He ran as fast as he could, it was a slight advantage, he was smaller and could run quicker, whereas Lefty was not as quick as him but still, he could potentially catch up to him, he knew that because he heard Lefty behind him running after him.

He must get somewhere where Lefty couldn’t physically gain access to him, the stage was a good place.

It was made better by the fact Alec saw the animatronics were all not in the room, so he dashed to the gap in the side and quickly crawled in, moving quietly out of view in case Lefty did look in there.

“He couldn’t have left! The doors are locked! He can't possibly open them without a key!!” Helpy exclaimed.

“Lefty! Lefty! What was that thing?”

“None of your business Foxy. I’ll be along with the band later. I need to find it immediately,” He heard Lefty was close, he was most likely in the dining area, looking for him.

“Why do you think it ran?” Helpy said Alec imagined he was right next to him talking.

“Either scared of me... Or..... It doesn’t want me to stop whatever it’s planning... I'd prefer to keep tabs on where it is. This is strange... A Lonely Freddy has never run from me before.”

“What if... This is something else?”

“What do you mean?” Lefty asked him sounding confused.

“It's... Being more careful to avoid you... If it's been around this whole time but never been found... Maybe it’s...”

“Then again... Helpy something about it was unusual... The level of fear it radiated... It felt..... It felt like real fear... It... Was like... A human fear level, not a robot.”

_**Does he really know or not?** _

“What are yer rattlin' on bout?”

“Foxy, mind your business and please go away... You've been causing problems for me...”

“Lefty! Foxy! Come on! We need to rehearse now!!!”

“Five minutes Freddy!” Lefty yelled, “I need to check that gap on the side of the stage! It’s definitely a hiding place for something as small as him...”

He had heard Lefty getting closer and he moved further in.

“You can check later Lefty! Come here now!”

“This is important Freddy!” Alec was hoping that Lefty would decide to go instead of looking for him.

“So is this! Now both of you get over here before I drag you both over here!”

“Alright fine!” Lefty sounded extremely annoyed. “Helpy..... Look around... Check here first if you don't find it,wait for me and we'll search the backrooms... I'll meet you later....”

“Lefty!”

“I’m coming Freddy!!!” Footsteps walking away getting quieter until it was silent.

Well, it was all over now. Lefty knew he was aware, he was going to keep his eyes— wait, Alec thought, he seems to only have one eye. Whatever it was, Lefty was going to look for him, knowing he is roaming. How could he explain?

He remembered the strange conversation that Lefty had with Helpy, where they talked about an incident that sounded a lot similar to what happened to him. It seemed like luck in that case Lefty had seen the Lonely Freddy and gotten that little girl away from it before something bad happened.

Maybe he could explain that's what happened to him, Lefty seems to see those sort of peculiar things.

**_Maybe that was the reason why the “Lonely Freddy” was decommissioned, somebody, maybe not just Lefty noticed something amiss and immediately dealt with it by taking them out of the pizzeria._ **

“You look irritated Lefty!”

Alec could hear them.

“Because Foxy let out something he wasn’t supposed to let out!” Alec heard Lefty shout, “I've told you, you blasted pirate to not open my door unless I say you can!”

“You still didn't tell me what it was!”

“Because it's none of your concern!”

“Well, it looked like one of them Lonely Freddy's.”

“Wait Lefty, you found a Lonely Freddy?!!”

“What I do isn’t your business Security Puppet!”

“Well, I saw it!! Tell me Lefty!!”

“No!! This is my problem! I'll deal with it! Do what you do best and ignore me!”

“If you all don't stop this childish fighting, I'll throw across the room into the wall!”

“Chica's right... This is extremely childish.”

“Said Mr. “I like money”.”

“Foxy quit it!”

“Can we stop please??”

“Is it a Lonely Freddy??!”

“Foxy! Lefty! Can we stop??”

“Your one to talk Bonnie! I've also told you to not barge into my room! I pay you the same respect and for what?!?!”

“I'm sorry! Now can we-”

“Hold on! Foxy I want an apology for your comment!!”

“I spoke the truth... How about you Lefty?”

“Quit having a go at me Foxy, you won't like how quickly I’ll put you in your place!”

“This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“You guys are worse than those stupid Mediocre Melodies!”

_**Normal argument,**_ Alec thought despite this was the first time he heard Lefty shouting during a fight.

“Hey! Hello! Hello in there!”

That sentence made his heart drop.


	4. The Eyes Give It Away

* * *

He completely forgot about Helpy.

And how small he was.

He easily got through the hole like how he did.

“Wow, it's both extremely claustrophobic and homey in here,” Helpy stood up, looking around.

He was blocking the only way in or out.

No way to escape now. Helpy had cornered him.

“You know, the hole is going to be repaired soon,” Helpy told him, “And if you chose to stay in here, you'll be sealed away forever.”

“You care why?” Alec had spoken for the first time in a long time, he didn’t see the need to talk until now, his voice sounded so unfamiliar now, he tried to not to show weakness as he had forgotten what his voice had sounded like.

“Because forever is a really long time!” Helpy exclaimed, “So anyway, I'm Helpy.”

“I've seen you on the safety posters around the pizzeria, I know your name,” Alec nodded.

“Customer safety is very important to us!” Helpy had clapped his hands together, “That's why some of us have particular features! Like Security Puppet stops kids from leaving without their parents! And well... Lonely Freddy's use to be walking security cameras... But not anymore, because they started to act strangely, but you seem different!”

“That's because I'm not a Lonely Freddy!” Alec shouted at him, irritated that he was being labelled as a Lonely Freddy.

“I don’t understand I'm afraid,” Helpy shook his head, “You can't really claim to be something your not! If you have no good ground for it, you look like a Lonely Freddy, so you must be one??”

Alec heard his voice was practically drowning in confusion, so he spoke, “I heard you and the black bear talking and I remember he mentioned an incident with a Lonely Freddy and a little girl.”

“Oh, are you that Lonely Freddy?” Helpy automatically assumed which made Alec snap.

“No, I'm not a Lonely Freddy! That happened to me!”

“You're a little girl?” Helpy sounded even more lost than before.

“No! No!” He shouted frustrated Helpy was constantly interrupting before he could really explain, “My name is Alec! I'm not a Lonely Freddy!”

“Oh okay! Alec is a boy's name! I get it!” Helpy nodded eagerly like he won a game.

“I don't think you do Helpy.”

“Then I'll need an explanation then!” Helpy said.

“Your friend talked about hypnosis... Mind control,” Alec had decided he was going to tell Helpy, he seemed friendly enough plus what could he really do? He didn’t look interested in fighting, he looked more like a curious child.

It reminded him of when Hazel was a toddler following him around.

“Lefty! Yes, he did!! He's a good guy! He may sometimes act weirdly but he's my friend!” Helpy was beaming when he talked about Lefty.

“I was a 15-year-old boy, but something happened and Freddy's in my body!”

“Wait, a mind swap... Like he's in your body and you are in his... A real body swap scenario?” Helpy frowned understanding.

“I guess that’s a basic way to define it,”

“Oh, sugar honey ice tea..... Maybe that's why Lefty detected something wrong with them... He was so insistent that something was amiss but he said he didn’t know what, he described it as feeling like it would steal his soul if he looked it in the eye...” Helpy muttered, “So you are a human really?”

“Yes,” Alec answered.

“Prove it!”

“How am I suppose to prove it?!” He snapped at Helpy.

“Well, humans don’t usually look like walking teddy bears. Then again... Your eyes... They are green,” Helpy moved closer and narrowed his own light blue eyes to look at his, Alec didn’t think his eye colour was that important in all honesty.

“Freddy’s eyes have always been blue all the way from the 70s to the current day, always blue. The only green eyes in the pizzeria history include the newer variations of Bonnie, the original had pink eyes, there was a variation of SpringBonnie had purple eyes but only in the costume form, kinda creepy... Considering what Lefty said and the **_history_** we have, it seems plausible you were, well are supposed to be human... There’s a certain amount of **_creditability_** to your story,” Helpy answered.

“What history?” Alec asked, as far as he knew, this place seemed as normal as possible, aside from the obvious. However, the way Helpy had said “history” sounded like there was something more dark and twisted below the surface.

“Umm too much to explain, we'd be here all night! Now, how about we both get outta here before Mike decides to find us, it'll be far more difficult to explain it to him,” Helpy looked around nervously.

“Your friend won't hurt me?”

“No, in fact, I think he will want to hear this strange story,” Helpy nodded then turned around and crawled back through the hole, “Come on Alec! We probably shouldn’t let anyone else see you!”

Alec hesitated, Helpy then poked his head through, “Let’s go!”

“Where are we going?” Alec asked.

“Back to my room!”

“You share it with the bear,” Alec said.

“He won’t bite... In fact, I'd be more worried about Chica, she ain't a scaredy-cat, I once saw her smack a rat with a guitar, she's not scared to hit things....” Helpy answered. He pulled his head back as Alec crawled out of the space. Helpy pointed back to the room and they walked away, Alec following Helpy, seeing truly how small the world was, even Helpy was slightly taller than him.

“This is the strangest thing I've ever come across, and that counts the time some awful teenage brute ripped the arm of the Yarg Foxy toy, kids are one thing, I don't hate teenagers, but... They don’t particularly like me, I was kicked across the restaurant once by a teenager. I was actually kicked straight at Freddy who was performing on stage, we both had the wind knocked out of us... Lefty... He was furious and started screaming at the teenager asking if he'd like to be thrown into the wall.”

Alec had paid attention and wondered if Helpy was talking about him unless there was another teenager who tore the arm of a Yarg Foxy. As far as he knew, Helpy wouldn’t have seen that happen unless he was quiet enough to see it but to not draw attention to himself being there, meaning he would have by some luck, had to avoid being seen by Alec, Hazel, both of his parents and Aunt Gigi, which seemed impossible. Maybe Helpy heard about it, then again, Helpy was small.

Helpy pushed open the bedroom door and they both walked in, Helpy then pushed it closed.

“Must be weird, you can’t reach a lot of doorknobs now!” Helpy said making a remark on Alec's situation, Alec turned and noticed something he didn’t see before.

The door had a lock on it.

“Um Helpy, why is there a lock on the door?” He questioned trying to figure out why there was a lock on the door, he understood why there would be a lock on the front door but this lock seemed random unless there was a reason.

“Oh! Um... The lock..... Um... It's to keep anything bad out. Lefty said something bad happened once when I was asleep...” Helpy sounded really unsure, “I don’t remember what exactly happened but Lefty seemed extremely worried about me for a while and he wouldn’t explain why, we lock the door when we are both asleep, otherwise our door is usually unlocked..... Admittedly... I've heard... What sounds like some pretty vicious growling coming from outside... Lefty almost is always paranoid something is outside, he wasn’t that bad until this “ _ **Marionette**_ ” started speaking to him in his head,” Helpy explained.

“Maybe... He's just looking out for you..?” Alec suggested.

“Yea! Kinda like an older brother! He's my best friend, I guess he is my older brother... Hey Alec, as a human, do you have any siblings?”

Alec didn’t expect that question but answered honestly, “I had... A younger sister.”

“What’s your relationship with her like?”

“I don't feel comfortable discussing that,” Alec frowned, the two reasons why he said that were; he didn’t want to share with a stranger and he didn’t want to admit how much of an idiot he was.

“Oh, understandable... I apologise, I’ve been told I’m not supposed to ask those sort of things, I’m not invasive! I’m curious about you Alec! That’s all!” Helpy smiled, “Well... Lefty'll be back soon... You wanna do anything?”

“Like what?” Alec asked.

“I can go ask Mike for the tablet and we can watch some videos.”

“I've noticed, you mentioned Mike a few times, who is he?” Alec felt like he wasn’t out of line by asking that.

“Human Owner essentially....” Helpy answered, “He owns this place and does the work at night, apparently, he's a night owl, he’s used to being asleep during the day and awake at night, he's told me it's easier to do work here when it's quiet.”

“Could he help me out...?”

“No probably not, I'll be a minute, just stay here, sit on Lefty's bed until I get back!” Helpy said as he walked up a set of wooden steps next to the door, he reached for the doorknob and turned it, pulling it open, he walked out and dragged the door to close behind him, leaving the room and Alec alone.

Alec decided it was okay to wait for him, he climbed up onto Lefty's bed and sat with his back against the wall.

A few minutes passed, Alec tapped his feet together. He wondered when these guys slept, Lefty was performing usually from opening time to closing, which was ten hours on average, and he seemed to be awake between 12:00 am and 6:00 am left only eight hours for anything like sleep.

Alec then swore he heard a strange noise. Like scrapping, something sharp scratching on wood.

He looked at the door, hearing the scraping from that direction, he then heard a snap and something winced in pain, it was then followed by a quite “ow”.

It wasn’t Lefty or Helpy.

“I can't get in again.” He heard a quiet voice speak.

Silence.

“Yea, yea, shut up I know you're angry again I can't get in! What do you expect?”

_**Why did it sound like it was having a conversation?** _

“Quit it. I'll get in eventually, you don't need to break in, otherwise, the Puppet'll know we're watching again.”

Silence.

“Good one, yep he is exactly that. I’ll come back, I can’t stick around, I can hear him coming back.”

_**That didn’t sound good.** _

“Hey, I brought the tablet!” Helpy opened the door, “Anything you want to watch? Funny videos? We can watch some cartoons! Maybe even a movie!”

“What exactly is there...?” Alec asked as Helpy got up on the bed with the tablet in his hands, Alec forgot about what he heard since Helpy was around and he felt a little better with some company nearby.

“Well let's see...” Alec watched Helpy open an application with videos listed, he saw a fee movie titles he recognised, he saw a tab that had a list of names and numbers:

HELPY'S VIDEOS

230 MOVIES

20 TELEVISION SERIES

SERIES THAT MIKE AND LEFTY WATCH

34 TELEVISION SERIES

STUFF FOR EVERYONE TO WATCH

400 MOVIES

50 TELEVISION SERIES.

“Anything you recommend?” Alec asked him.

Helpy tapped on the list that had his name and the page loaded with video thumbnails and titles.

“Depends! Do you want a comedy? Do you want to watch a television series? An animated movie?”

The door opened and Lefty walked in, he locked the door behind him and looked at Alec.

“I see you've made yourself at home,” Lefty said in quite a monotone way, “Would you care to talk now or shall I continue to be suspicious about you?”

Explaining himself again would probably be a bigger problem, Lefty had a stone cold expression on his face.

Helpy jumped in and said, “He explained to me Lefty,” Helpy nodded, “Ummm... That girl with Lonely Freddy?”

“I don't really want to talk about it anymore-” Lefty pinched his nose bridge, shaking his head, looking exhausted.

“It was a mind swap thing,” Helpy cut him off, “Lonely Freddy can mind swap with people.”

“ _ **You know that how....?**_ ” Lefty asked, his golden yellow eye glaring at Helpy, he was puzzled about how he could know that and what the concept even was.

“Because of me....” Alec spoke.

Lefty frowned, staring at him, he didn’t understand. Then it struck him... this can’t be a Lonely Freddy.

“Wait... No... No... **_NO!_** God Security!!! Me!!! We failed to keep a kid safe!!” Lefty exclaimed grabbing the sides of his head, shaking, “It explains why I didn’t want to kill you and felt like I needed to hold onto you!! I'm programmed to protect children... I sense your soul as a child... That's why!! Oh no! How can I fix this?!?”

“Lefty! You don't need to worry!” Helpy yelled, “Calm down!”

Lefty crashed onto the bed, completely dazed, the two bears looked at him in confusion.

“I’m a failure to Mr Emily, how did this slip past me?” Lefty asked to no one in particular.

“We all missed this!” Helpy shouted, “This isn’t your slip up! It's ours! Every animatronic here failed to stop this from happening, we have measures to prevent things like adduction, thief, hostage situations, murders, accidents, injuries... We never had something in place for this sort of thing!” Helpy was pushing his side trying to get him to stand up.

Lefty sat up and looked at Alec, “So you really are..?” He asked obviously asking his name.

“Alec, my name is Alec” He answered.

“Alec.... Alec.... I need to check that name and find out exactly how long ago this happened to you... We write down every name in a book....”

“We don't need to do anything yet-”

“Helpy, have you forgotten there is a rogue Lonely Freddy out there who looks human?!? And we have no idea what it's planning more importantly!!! Lonely Freddy's are the worse sort of unpredictable, you never know where they are and what they're doing! They don't act like the rest of us! They don’t socialise, they’re extremely invasive, and they don’t understand what’s wrong with the way they act!! Dam it Helpy, I will not let that thing run free, they are cunning and manipulative! And that's why there's a lock on our door so they don't come in our room ever again!”

Helpy and Alec were silent.

Lefty looked around, he seem to realise what he said, his tone softened as he spoke again, “Helpy....”

“The truth Lefty,” Helpy spoke, “Why is that lock on our door? I honestly don’t remember what happened and I don’t know why! I have a great memory! Why won’t you tell me?? Is there something I should be scared of?”

“Helpy, no! I will protect you from what’s out there!” Lefty exclaimed, “Human or Animatronic!”

“Lefty, has a Lonely Freddy come in our room before? When we were asleep?”

Both looked at him for an answer, even Alec wanted an answer from him, if it was true it explained a lot.

“I’m not answering that in light of this, it's unimportant,” Lefty shook his head dismissing it, “However, Alec's problem is extremely serious, he needs to be a priority. He is trapped in a body that isn’t his... He's obviously been forcibly separated from his family which in itself is traumatic on top of... The fact he doesn’t look like how he should... Something tells me this far more serious than anything I'm programmed to do... I could tell this was dark magic from the start... but I didn’t know it was worse than I feared, you are not a threat... You... You're just a scared kid,” Lefty looked at Alec, his look was genuine confusion and concern.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lefty has now learnt Lonely Freddy was a bigger problem than he thought, now he and Helpy have met Alec.


	5. Tell Me Everything

* * *

Sleep didn’t come to Alec this time, that frustrated him, he watched as Lefty and Helpy slept, they finally went to bed and at 1:21 am, while Alec was left to lay on the floor and think about what Lefty said.

That lock existed because a Lonely Freddy came into their room while they slept. Lefty knew they were already dangerous, he just didn’t know the extent of it until he met Alec.

Alec knew if they got rid of the Lonely Freddy when Lefty talked to “Mike” that he wouldn’t be here right now, but Alec didn't blame Lefty for this.

If Lefty had his way initially...... He would have unintentionally saved Alec.

This room wasn’t as cold as others Alec had been in previously, he did still wish he had that blanket he found, recalling it was most likely left at that guy's house. His name was Lewis Anthony, Alec remembered, he is the Music Man. Would be likely he'd get the blanket back? It was soft and great to lay on, his argument was despite being covered in fur now, he could feel the cold more intensely now, he hated cold, which is why Alec hated Winter.

Alec looked at the ceiling, remembering vividly, all the nights he was awake staring at the ceiling, his body refusing to let him sleep, even now, his body didn’t seem to want him to sleep, he huffed slightly frustrated, his sleep was plagued by nightmares, but he did want at least to rest.

The hours flew by and eventually, Alec heard movement, he sat up to see Lefty had opened his eyes and looked at the displayed time from the clock that sat on the desk where Helpy often worked.

“12:10 pm....” Lefty mumbled saying the exact time,pulling off his blanket and standing up, stretching out.

Alec stood up, he took a few steps forward then made himself known by saying: “Aren’t you... Late for work? Or whatever you’d call it?” He asked knowing the pizzeria always opened at 11:00 am

Alec saw Lefty jump slightly, “Oh I forgot about you being here.....” He turned to him. Alec strangely didn’t feel disappointed by that, he was very forgettable it seemed.

Lefty kept explaining, “I'm only used to hearing Helpy’s voice when I wake up... he still sleeping like a cat,” He looked over at the small bear who was all cuddled up against the blanket, looking so peaceful.

“So um.....” Lefty turned back to Alec, he was trying to think of what to say to Alec, his mind was still rattled by the fact he had the appearance of a two-foot Lonely Freddy but he was a child and he knew Alec was most likely a bit emotionally unstable being in the wrong body.

“You don't... Want to stay this way?” Lefty knew what the answer was but he needed to hear it from Alec.

Alec huffed, “No, I don't enjoy being a perfect height for people to kick me.”

“I don't want a repeat of the kicking incident with Helpy,” Lefty grabbed his red hat from where it sat on his black bedside table and placed it on his head. He then lifted the red ribbon and began to tie it around his neck as he spoke, “He was aching all day as was Freddy. Benedict had to delicately put back his spine into place, much like humans, if robots break their spines, we don't stand a chance unless it's all fixed up. I could've broken that teenager's spine if they weren't so many witnesses.”

He spoke about teenagers quite bitterly, that seemed to be his only real experience with a teenager.

“Really?” Alec asked. Alec had yet to tell Lefty his age so he was unaware he was speaking to a teenager at this very moment.

“Well, I am strong enough to break a spine....” Lefty had adjusted his bowtie so it sat perfectly, “But I did at lease get to scream at the teenager for a solid twenty minutes for thinking it was funny to kick a small robot who didn't even provoke him, my voice was gone later but it was worth seeing that pathetic brat's face go white... He was... Scared... Of what I'd do.....” Lefty frowned realising something, “Alec... I must ask this and don’t think this is because I don't believe you...”

“You don't?” Alec asked sounding unintentionally very worried which Lefty immediately picked up on.

“No! No! I do believe you... But this situation..... It's strange to me...” Lefty assured him. “I've never dealt with this, this is completely new... I need to know this, however, Alec, how exactly did Fred get you? In the sense of... How did this happen? I’m still unclear on how you were human but you aren't now, I need to know.”

“I went into a backroom-” Alec explained with Lefty unexpectedly cutting him off with:

“You are not allowed in backrooms unless you work here. Customers are not permitted to roam in those areas for their safety.”

It sounded like Lefty was reciting a rule that was well known, Alec wondered how often he had to repeat that one rule to remember it. Alec knew he broke that rule and didn't care now as it was completely irrelevant at this point, so he answered: “Obviously I know that.”

“I'm surprised you weren’t found by an employee. I, myself roam those backrooms often when I'm not on stage, I'm surprised I didn't encounter you unless I was on stage for a long segment during that time... But I also could have been attending to an urgent matter,” Lefty responded.

“Can I continue?” Alec wasn't going to tell Lefty why he was in there, because he only asked for how this particular problem happened and not why he went in the back room in the first place, which in hindsight, was his biggest mistake.

“Go ahead,” Lefty answered, “Wait, can you describe the room? Any props inside?”

“It had like... Old arcade machines... Some broken toys...” Alec recalled.

“Oh yes, that's the south-west backroom, we keep various props lying around in there,” Lefty nodded, “I have seen a Lonely Freddy in there about five months ago but it looked deactivated so I didn’t bother with it. I need to remember what Marionette has told me, which is “things are often not what they appear,” which is why I believe you, you appear as one of the deceivers but you are the one who was hoodwinked.”

“Lonely Freddy started talking to me... It seemed normal at first, then he got extremely personal...” Lefty tilted his head confused so Alec had told him about the questions he recalled which were suspicious, “Asking who I admired, what would I do if I had to hurt someone I love, what I fear, and asking... Asking... Asking...”

**_What's your biggest regret, Alec?_ **

A chill ran down his spine.

**_You are weak for telling him that. Pathetic._ **

“Alec. Alec. Alec! Hey!” Lefty had snapped his fingers in front of his face to bring his attention back, Alec blinked and looked at Lefty who had gone from standing in front of his bed to kneeling in front of him. He had been so out of it that he didn't see Lefty move.

“What exactly were you asked? I’d like to know,” Lefty prompted.

He felt like he was forced to answer, not because of that single golden honey colour eye staring at him to force an answer, but because Lefty needed the answer, “What’s my biggest regret...” Alec told him.

Lefty's pupil noticeably shrunk in shock, he had either heard that particular question before or was surprised it asked that question.

**_Could he have heard it before?_ **

When he blinked, his eye grew to normal size, “Why didn't you run away? Lonely Freddy couldn’t have possibly stopped you. You could have kicked it, I kicked one once and it went down easily... or is there something else I need to know?”

“I couldn't move... Those eyes... Glowing...” It still seemed so hazy to him, yet very real. He remembered his panic, the disappointment of hearing his Mom and Hazel so close by, yet unable to find him.

“That girl....” Lefty himself had recalled what he encountered and his face turned to rage, “It's the same thing!!!! You were put into a trance Alec, Lonely Freddy hypnotised you, by using known the well-known method one, eye contact and possibly using his voice as some sort of lure....” Lefty spoke as a matter of fact.

That awful realisation hit Alec like a train, **_that made so much sense! But why did this happen to me?? Why did he go after me?_**

“An unspoken rule of keeping yourself safe from evil is to not look something strange in the eye if you don't know what it could do.”

“Hey, I didn't know that! It's not my fault!!” Alec shouted.

“I was not blaming you! You did nothing wrong!!” Lefty exclaimed, “So unable to move... Glowing eyes...... What happened next?”

“I closed my eyes and woke up... He was gone... I notice everything was bigger.”

“You didn’t initially make a connection?” Lefty asked, “Lonely Freddy gone, the world looks bigger? Didn't you see the fact you had paws now?” Lefty had held out and extended out his own paw to show him.

Lefty had pointed out the obvious glaring issues that Alec overlooked, “No I didn't,” Alec answered, “I saw my reflection later and I knew what happened at that point.”

Lefty tapped his chin, “The fact your voice doesn’t sound like a Lonely Freddy and you have green eyes instead of blue, and you perfectly describe a very textbook case of hypnosis... It all adds up... But why did you hide from me? From the others? I understand hiding from humans but if you came to me with the story sooner, I could have helped you, perhaps I could have tended to this as soon as it happened. I could have even stopped Lonely Freddy from leaving the pizzeria in your body,” Lefty was clearly pleading for an answer and seeing that made Alec truly feel stupid for thinking everything he did.

He could easily answer, “I was scared....”

“Scared of us?”

“I didn’t know what you'd do! You could have quickly turned against me-!!”

“You thought we'd kill you???” Lefty asked surprised at this fact.

“That guy Lewis said you hate Lonely Freddy-”

“I knew even at that moment you were listening to us! I didn’t tell Lewis because he would have immediately gotten hysterical, much like how you are. How old are you supposed to be?”

“Fifteen.”

“Oh, you’re a teenager.”

“Why does that change anything?” Alec almost sneered at him.

“No it doesn’t, you're still a human, I sense it. You are not supposed to be a robot. I just didn’t guess you were a teenager... But now that I think... It makes sense...?” Lefty looked around as he spoke, “A young child would have approached us regardless of what they appeared as. An adult wouldn’t even be here, they'd figure out a way to escape. A teenager would probably panic like you.”

“Are you insulting me?” Alec questioned.

“No, it's an observation,” Lefty answered.

“Speaking of that, why is it so quiet? The pizzeria's open... Isn't it?

“Our rooms are soundproof, behind three different tightly locked doors so we don't hear what's going on in the pizzeria, and also kids can’t accidentally wander in this area. It's good too because we all have different sleep schedules, me and Helpy usually sleep from 2:00 am to around noon, but if I have to work earlier for a birthday that specifically requested me, I have a nap at about 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm. If Helpy works all night helping Mike, he's asleep from 10:00 am to about midnight. It's easy for us to adjust our sleeping schedules.”

“Easy for you, humans don’t work that way,” Alec scoffed.

“You know if you have trouble sleeping... You should try some Chamomile tea before bed. You're still able to eat and drink but it's not necessary to survive like humans,” Lefty replied walking over to the door, “Would you like to join me for something to eat or stay here?”

Alec thought back to that strange noise outside the door last night, “I’ll come with you...” Alec walked to be alongside him as Lefty unlocked the door and opened it.

They walked in quiet, as Lefty wasn't as talkative as Helpy. Alec saw he was not even looking at him, he had a look on his face like he was mentally somewhere else. He'd be exactly like that when he was being lectured by his parents but the thing was when he wanted them to acknowledge him... They ignored him.

He missed his family.

Lefty opened one door and stepped aside so Alec could walkthrough. Lefty then took the lead again and opened a door at the end of the hall. They arrived at a sort of small communal area there was a kitchen set up, an area with sofas.

A man was in one of those sofas, his back turned away, so he didn’t see them, Lefty realised the situation and shoved Alec along quickly until he was hidden behind the kitchen island countertop.

“Otis?” Lefty asked trying to act as casual as he possibly could to not accidentally reveal Alec.

“Oh! I didn’t hear you come in! Good morning- I mean Good afternoon! It's afternoon....”

“It's okay, you on a break?”

“Lunch break, I'll be gone in ten minutes, I guess I could go now if I'm bothering you.”

“Oh no! You can stay Otis, there's no problem here....” Lefty replied, “Say... I wanted to ask... You once spoke about... Something... Called the Shadow Puppet, he was in your story... Is he based on the legend I read about once?”

“Legend no, Shadow Puppet is real Lefty, apparently he was once a friendly man but something changed about him and he changed for the worse, embraced the darker magic elements and used them for diabolical purposes. You know magic is supposed to be used for good intentions and those who use it for evil become disfigured..... Anyway, why are you asking?”

“Hypnotising and body swap is generally dark magic right? The evil side tend to use them to get an advantage don't they?”

“I don't like where this is going Lefty-” Otis looked disturbed by the topic.

“I’m asking because!.... Because!......” Lefty looked around the room then looked back at Otis, “Can you keep a secret?” His voice had lowered to almost a whisper.

“Sure!”

“This will not leave this room at any point,” Lefty said, he turned to Alec, then he kneeled down and lifted him.

“What are you doing?!?” Alec asked extremely panicked because Lefty had lifted him off the ground and he knew a person was there who would see him.

“Calm down, Otis's as dangerous as a butterfly,” Lefty assured him.

Otis's eyes widen, “My! Is that a Lonely Freddy? I thought all of them were gone!”

“This is Alec.... I was right Otis... He’s supposed to be human like you, Lonely Freddy had hypnotic capabilities with a body swap tied to that, and it slipped past all of us!” Lefty held Alec like a child, “Seems impossible when you consider you're a magician, Security is an anti-kidnapping measure that has always worked, I'm able to detect souls and anything suspicious, not to mention we have other staff who are almost always actively patrolling the pizzeria! It just seems so impossible yet it did happen... Now, do I have your permission to go to your house and look for anything that could help me, help Alec, go back to his normal body?”

Otis was thinking for a minute, “I see..... Does anyone else?”

“Helpy knows but Foxy saw him at one point, and as stubborn as he is, he's likely not to leave it alone so easily,” Lefty spoke, “He could be a problem.”

“You will probably have to at lease tell Freddy eventually, Alec can not be kept a secret especially if you, and I think you do, have any intention of returning Alec to his correct body,” Otis suggested.

“I will tell him soon, but I don't want to find out you've been going around telling anyone else. No one else should know unless I told them,” Lefty said as he put Alec on the ground.

“How... Do you know how it happened?”

“Only Alec knows, it could be possible that his memory of that event is foggy like how some victims of hypnosis are, they struggle to recall the exact event but remember the before and after. I didn’t see it happening but it's remarkably similar to an incident I have seen but with a different outcome because I interfered in the other incident.”

“30 years have gone by without a single incident in the company’s history....”

“That’s why I have a strong belief this isn’t a coincidence..... I think... He's back, and he's trying something new..... He is doing that in hope that we don't recognise his new signature, but it aligns with the whole concept of “Harvesting Soul Remnant”. I need a word with Security when they aren’t busy.”

“Him...? This is serious....”

“It’s also just a theory I have, but it seems very close to what he did apparently... This could be someone new though, I do know Mr Emily didn't build these things... This is what I'll do, Alec will stay in my room, once I tell Freddy, I'll be fine letting him roam at night, but not during the day. If kids see him, they'll go ballistic, as kids normally do. If the staff see him, he'll be put out for good, I won’t let that happen until they're swapped back, then I'll give the real Lonely Freddy to Benedict so he permanently shut down the vile thing.”

Lefty looked at Alec as he spoke, “As much as I hate this situation because this is an area I've never explored in magic.... Alec is technically only still alive because this... Is a vessel for his soul, self-conscious, and memories. Mike won't give him a chance to explain...”

“Listen to me, this is a warning Alec to protect you, you would be immediately shut down if you were found and that..... That would officially end your life, it's like turning off a life support unit,” Lefty explained, “My priority will be keeping you alive until I can pull your soul out of that body and put it back in your own, I expect you to do all you can also to prevent being caught by the staff members.”

“Well, you're talking about keeping me alive so......” Alec responded realising that all he had said made sense even if the whole thing appears quite grim. He didn’t like this, but this was the reality and he needed to face it.

“The only other human I feel safe to tell is Lewis, he'll understand this... I only told Otis so I could look through his stuff. I'd only tell Mike if I need to, I'd rather not tell him if I don’t have to...”

“Yes, yes..... Mike will mostly not listen to Alec because he can't see the truth....” Otis agreed.

“Hopefully now I know about Alec's situation... I can come up with a plan... Maybe we could lure the Lonely Freddy back here, or if that isn’t possible, I could ask Lewis to take me and Alec to Alec’s house and we'll swap back there with no one else knowing, it depends on what must be done and what me, Helpy and Security can do.”

Otis shook his head, “This is... Way beyond my understanding... Do what you must Lefty! You can look through what I have! We must do the right thing and return Alec to his body as soon as possible before the Lonely Freddy does something desperate and undoable to stop your efforts!”

Alec frowned, what exactly would Lonely Freddy do to stop him from returning to his body? Nothing came to him at that point other than how desperate would that bear get just to keep his identity indefinitely. Fred obviously would not want to blow his cover as an imposter and he obviously hadn’t done so yet if no one came to look for Alec.

Unless they don't know where to look for me... His mind had said at that moment, Maybe if I asked... Lefty would let me see my house... See my family.

“Thank you, Otis,” Lefty smiled.

“Anytime Lefty, you best hide Alec, for now, I believe Fiona and Rockstar Chica are on break soon, and their reactions will... Draw attention...” Otis stood up and walked to the door, “I’ll see you later Lefty, good luck in finding a way to reverse this awful curse.”

Lefty nodded as Otis left the room, Alec looked up at him.

“Curse...?” was the only word out of his mouth.

“I guess this technically is... A curse,” Lefty responded, he wouldn’t have used that word but it was true in some way that this could be viewed as a curse.

“A curse...” Alec repeated, he had never viewed his situation as a curse.

“But most curses can be reversed! I'm sure there is a way to undo this!!” Lefty exclaimed when he heard Alec repeat it sounding terrified.

“But most people who get cursed deserve it.....” Alec knew that much, he then looked away, “Maybe I did deserve this.....”

“I can see into your soul and I know you did nothing bad enough to deserve this!!!!”

“That's because you really don't know me!” Alec exclaimed angrily.

“And I don't need to!! That doesn’t matter! I know what I need to!” Lefty yelled back at him with the same amount of rage Alec just had, “You are a teenager who needs to go back to his own body and I will find a way! It'll..... It'll just...... Take time... It’ll take time to fix the mess you’ve gotten yourself into......” Lefty shook his head.

Alec was silent. He watched Lefty turn his attention away and grabbed the coffee jug from the machine, he then reached up and grabbed a black coloured mug with a strange jagged white stripe pattern that looked like lightning bolts.

Lefty was drinking coffee when Alec spoke.

“Lefty..?”

“What is it, Alec?”

He wasn't yelling or ignoring him.

He was listening to him.

“I want to go home and make things right,” Alec said, “I’ve done some pretty bad things....”

Lefty looked at Alec, completely focused, Alec felt compelled to say this, “I hurt my sister, I made her cry, and I didn’t apologise for it. I was so angry at her, I thought she was a brat, but it was me, and this is my fault. I didn't mean to make her cry.”

“Oh, Alec...” He put down his coffee mug and kneeled down, speaking directly to him, “We all do stupid things in anger, we're so determined to prove a point when it goes haywire, we can lose our temper, I do it, I've seen Helpy lose his cool when things go wrong, everyone here has gotten frustrated.....”

“My sister... I was awful to her... And it was my fault, she wanted to be my friend and I ruined it for no good reason... I hated her for no good reason...”

“Honestly... I've sometimes become frustrated with Helpy, but I always realise that he is just bothering me because I'm like his brother, and I can’t change that... I feel honoured Helpy considers me as such....” Lefty said, then gave a small smile.

“I’m certain, it is not too late to repair your relationship with your sister, let her be your friend, have a long discussion, tell her how you feel, make sure you let her speak too, be honest with her. I've had to fix my own relationships before, and I always believed it was too far gone to undo my mistakes... But each time I was wrong because there are two sides to everything. To me, it appears you were jealous of your sister, perhaps a conversation with your parents isn’t out of line? It might be good to also speak to your parents...”

“It seems your sister wanted nothing more than to be your friend. It's remarkable, true friends will never be pushed away, even we try to shove them through the front door, again and again, treat them as an unwelcome guest, a nuisance... They always come back to make sure we're okay because they care.”

“What if she likes the imposter more than me?”

“Lonely Freddy is not her brother. You are, I'm sure... Your sister-”

“Her name is Hazel,” Alec irrupted him to tell him.

“Hazel would rather want her brother over Freddy any day, plus... I'm certain, he cannot keep up the façade forever... Something will slip, and Hazel may already realise that something is amiss. Lonely Freddy will have no idea how to perfectly mimic you, someone who truly knows you will see something is wrong.”

That was a good point, and in a way, it made Alec feel a little optimistic for a single moment like everything could be fixed at some point. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this, if you are interested, Alec, Lefty and Helpy have a Tumblr Account where you can ask them questions:  
> https://ask-a-lonely-freddy.tumblr.com/


	6. Little Bears hang out

* * *

“Let's watch something together Alec!

It was 3:56 pm, Alec and Helpy had made themselves comfortable on Lefty's large bed with pillows all around. It was now obvious Lefty had a lot of pillows on his bed which Helpy had arranged into a pile for them. Helpy had set the tablet on a stand so he didn’t have to hold it in front of them.

“What should we watch?” Helpy asked leaving the decision to Alec.

“I dunno, I don't know what you have....” Alec shrugged.

This was the only way to spend time, Lefty was working, most likely singing a happy tune on stage while Helpy explained since the encounter with the rotten teen, going out to see guests just didn't appeal to him anymore, he even said to Alec he was also nearly torn in half once by some grubby kids but Foxy intervened.

Well, Alec wasn’t left alone at least... it sounded pathetic to admit but Alec didn’t want to be alone at the moment. Silence was deafening in his opinion.

Helpy looked at the screen, “Well we have Disney movies like Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Lilo and Stitch... Ooh, I just remembered! Mike finally put the rest of Phineas and Ferb on here!”

“Phineas and Ferb...?”

“A show about two boys who invent all kinds of crazy things and their pet platypus who is a secret agent.”

“I know, I know, my sister sometimes watches it.....” Alec nodded, “It’s a thing for little kids isn't it?”

“No, me and Lefty watch it!” Helpy was kind of defensive.

“Okay, okay, I wasn’t insulting you!” Alec did not want to start a fight at this point. He knew his tone might have sounded wrong but that was always the thing with Alec, his tone sometimes didn’t have any emotion in it.

“How about we watch the first episode and you decide what you think!”

Alec never sat down and watched it with Hazel. She had asked if he wanted to watch it, but he always looked at her with a scowl and said “No”, then he'd go find something better to do.

In fact, Alec never did anything with Hazel, he could really reflect now and see all the times she tried to make him feel happy.

_**God that's pathetic. She considered me many times and I didn’t even give her the time of day.** _

Helpy looked at him, Alec could see his eyes were a pale blue, like the colour of the sky, an endless sky that one could get lost in.... like the sea... Alec then looked away, feeling uncomfortable by the eye contact, he instead stared at the bookshelf, he saw one book title on the bookshelf that bothered him in a way he couldn’t quite describe:

**Hypnosis— How to fight the trance.**

Alec felt a chill and looked away, he just looked at the wall but that didn’t stop the intrusive thoughts.

** What's your biggest regret? **

**_Stop it._ **

“Hey, Alec are you still with me?” Helpy looked concerned, clearly because Alec had gone still and didn’t blink.

Alec blinked and looked back at him, he wasn’t making eye contact, instead, he looked at his bow tie sitting perfectly, “Yes...” Alec answered.

“Try not to drift off into bad thoughts... I understand probably engaging with me is hard because of... what happened... but I'm not going to hurt you.”

“No, I’m not worried about getting hurt,” Alec lied, he was already hurt, and he honestly felt kind of numb at this point.

“I'm not just talking about getting physically hurt.”

“What?” Alec asked confused at that statement and actually made eye contact with Helpy to read his expressions.

Helpy displayed confusion with his knitted eyebrows, “You know the concept that people can be emotionally hurt? Like betrayed or ignored by someone in their life?”

“Isn’t that a matter of opinion?” Alec frowned at him, not understanding.

“Your feelings are valid... that's why I'm asking for your insight, shall we watch Phineas and Ferb or should I find something else?” Helpy asked him again.

Well, he didn’t have anything important to do, “Alright. Let's watch it.”

Alec had seen the animation style before, he and Helpy were both engrossed in it by the end when it finished, Alec felt kind of disappointed, he found it was more enjoyable than he thought.

“Can we watch more?” Alec asked Helpy immediately.

“Sure!” Helpy nodded.

* * *

Alec wasn’t sure what time it was when somebody knocked at the door.

Helpy paused the video as they were now watching episode 5, he then turned towards the door and called out, “Who is it?”

“It's Lewis!”

“Oh come in Lewis!” Helpy nodded happily.

Lewis walked into the room, all dressed up, closing the door behind him, “I washed this, it kind of smelled.....” He looked at Alec.

He looked puzzled, he then let out a nervous chuckle, “Okay, you weren’t broken, I suspected you weren't but I didn't know... You were so still when I held you...” He scratched the back of his head.

“This is Alec!” Helpy had introduced him. “We're watching Phineas and Ferb! Do you want to watch with us?”

“Ummmm not today...? Do you want this back?” Lewis held up the blanket Alec would drag around, “I gave it a wash because it had a strange smell on it...”

Alec walked over and grabbed the bottom of it. Lewis allowed it to fall onto the ground.

“Thanks, Lewis....”

“You're definitely not a Lonely Freddy...” Lewis shook his head. “Lefty wouldn’t let one get so close to Helpy when he’s not around..... Ever since what happened that night... The fact he left you alone with Helpy means Lefty has some level of trust in you....” Lewis spoke, sounding very unsure.

“I'm human....” Alec had wrapped himself in the blanket, “Umm... Do you remember a birthday party? For a girl named Hazel? That happened in April?”

“Not particularly....” Lewis frowned and shook his head. He had done so many parties here that he didn’t remember all of them, especially not one that happened months ago, heck he couldn't even remember the ones he did last week. They were all kind of the same.

“She's my sister. I remember you were there, you were playing the ukulele on the day...” Alec did remember seeing him strumming his ukulele.

“I do play the ukulele.....” He nodded. “I’m sorry, I don't know you are. It happened some time ago so I don't remember it, ” He shrugged.

“I was a teenager....” Alec was trying to jog his memory reasoning that he may remember something. “I had messy blonde hair, green eyes... I... Ripped the arm of a Yarg Foxy...” He was absolutely ashamed to admit it now, especially in front of Helpy.

“Wait... I remember something,” Lewis froze, recalling back to an event he did remember happening that could be connected. “A woman with a child... She was a little girl with blonde curls and green eyes. They approached me asking if I had seen an “Alec”, telling me he ran off after he tore the arm of the toy......”

Lewis then nodded as he started to see it clear, “I did see some teenager run pass me about twenty minutes before but I wasn’t sure if that was Alec because he ran by quickly and I barely had time to react before I realise he just ran out of my vision. I saw the toy in question and said we could repair it or replace it... They chose to get it repaired at the workshop in the back of the pizzeria... I think the woman was named Meg... Is that your mother?”

“Yes! Yes! That's her!” Alec nodded.

“I saw her later, she said she found you???” Lewis looked confused.

Alec knew he must be talking about the Lonely Freddy, “She did... But I was... Lefty said body swap was the proper term... I'm the real Alec... Lonely Freddy is in my body.”

“It explains why Lefty has left you both unsupervised... So... You are a teenager? I know a little about what Lefty does... So I guess this is magic somehow?”

“Yup,” Helpy replied.

“Lefty explained what happened was some sort of trance... Hypnosis...” Alec remembered that conversation they had, “That's why I couldn’t escape him.”

“Creepy... I don’t understand this pizzeria at the best of times...” Lewis muttered.

“Wait, the doll! Is it still in the repair studio?” Helpy asked.

“No, it was fixed on the same day... Actually... I'm certain that Lefty himself repaired it, as you know Helpy, he's quite good at those sort of things... We usually like to fix those things on the same day... Both so we can get that stuff out of the way and to please the customers. They were happy with the repair and I remember I said goodbye to them as they left, I remember because the little girl came up to me and thanked me for taking the toy to be repaired quickly.”

That sounded like something Hazel would do.

“I also spoke to... Alec... But I guess that wasn't you....”

Alec shook his head, he remembered when he thought this was a nightmare, but it was reality, and that had broken him. “I need to go home! I'm not supposed to be here! I can’t be stuck here! I have a family! I was ready to apologise for being a jerk and Lonely Freddy stole that from me! He stole my body and he’s stolen my family!!!”

“Alec you need to calm down...” Lewis said trying to de-escalate the situation.

“No, no, no, no! No! I'm supposed to be human like you! I'm stuck like this and I'm scared I'll never go home! I don't want to be here! This place is creepy at night and this... This is too much for me....” Alec held his head in his hands.

Lewis looked around, he had to take in a lot at once. All he really understood was that this thing was suppose to be a child who was trapped in the worse kind of prison. Alec, this poor kid... Was breaking apart. Lewis couldn’t possibly imagine how much pain and grief he was feeling, all at once. Anger, depression, such powerful emotions a child should never have to experience, especially when the circumstances were considered.

Lewis looked at Helpy, who shared the same expression as him. Trying to process this and figuring out what to do next, this was completely unfamiliar to both of them.

This was the first time Lewis had to ever deal with an intense mental breakdown, especially with someone older, he usually would tend to kids who were younger and their problems could be fixed as quick as a snap of his finger. Teenagers never would get upset.

“Alec....” Lewis started, “I... I... I can't help you...” He said.

Alec expected that answer. He was beyond help.

“But I will do you anything you ask of me in regards to this.”

He didn’t expect that.

“Would you like a hug? I usually allow kids to hug me when they're sad, they say I'm cuddly.”

That was unexpected.

Lewis kneeled down and stretched out his arms, Alec slowly walked towards him then crashed into his arms, he felt himself cry, he thought he couldn’t possibly cry anymore, but he was now, he was crying because he was stuck here.

“Helpy, maybe go find something to calm Alec down..? Maybe something sweet like a chocolate chip cookie?” Lewis suggested.

“Okay...” Alec heard Helpy's light footsteps go behind him and open the door, then closing it, signalling that Alec was alone with Lewis now. His eyes rested on the ground, he couldn’t even bear to look anyone, he felt degraded and less than human.

Well, he didn’t look human.

“Alec... Are you okay?”

“No,” Alec answered, he hadn’t felt okay in a long time, he wasn’t even sure what “okay” was now, was it being content? Was it just being numb? Happy? Something like that? He didn’t know. He wasn’t dead but he didn’t feel alive.

“It's okay to have these emotions, it's normal in my opinion... I’d probably have a breakdown also if I was a teddy bear....” Lewis spoke and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, he then handed it to Alec who was using it to wipe his face.

“I can't imagine being away against my will, in a strange place, away from my family... I can't imagine how much you are hurting... Alec... When did this happen if you don't mind answering...?”

“April...” Alec answered in a weak voice, “How much time has passed Lewis?”

Lewis honestly didn't want to answer, because he knew it was going to shock him, but he did, “It's now August the 2nd... You've been like this for nearly four months..... I'm sorry Alec... We got rid of the Lonely Freddy's in late April.”

Alec felt his chest tighten, he had missed out on more time than he thought, it felt long but he didn’t think it was months. Months being alone, crying and regretting everything. All that time being helpless. Time he never would get back. It could be too late, his mind said.

“I read the official decommissioning documentation, they were taken out of service because they kept breaking, and there were multiple complaints about them acting strange. They apparently were asking questions that they aren’t programmed to ask, things like “what’s your biggest regret?”, they shouldn’t know let alone be asking that sort of stuff... It's insensitive and rude,” Lewis said in a disapproving tone.

“It... Asked me that..” Alec confirmed, he could remember every question as clear as day, it felt like it happened years ago with how many nights passed, but he could remember it vividly.

Admittedly it haunted him.

“It shouldn't have. Either it learnt that...” Lewis remembered he was told it would learn from conversations, which made it sound like a listening device. That thought always made him paranoid.

“Or bad programming existed....” Lewis muttered.

“I... Heard you say you didn’t want to leave your nephews alone with it...”

“I couldn’t explain why I felt that way, maybe it was just a gut feeling that I always had, something inside me would always scream at me, whenever I saw a Lonely Freddy approach, my mind would scream at me: “Watch your nephews, don't let them go alone to anywhere, avoid the eyes, and keep them safe”... I care for my nephews... I care for them because they are family... You see Alec, I don’t have any children, but I love my nephews because of how wonderful they are... they're good kids... they wouldn’t wander away without telling their Mamá or someone they trust.”

“That. That is what's wrong with me, I don’t have anyone,” Alec answered wiping his eyes again.

“No, no, there is nothing wrong with you Alec. I mean, honestly, you're quite timid but that is be expected... what happened and all... your trust in people would be damaged... But you can trust Lefty and Helpy, it's in their nature to not even lay a hand on kids, so that would include you, regardless of you being a teenager. Lonely Freddy's however, were always hiding their true intentions as Lefty once told me, something was wrong with them... Did... Did Lefty tell you about Lucky?”

“Lucky?” Alec frowned not recalling that name ever being said.

“It was a Lonely Freddy that came into the room while he and Helpy slept...” Lewis answered, “I'm not telling you the exact details... But Lefty didn’t always have one eye... Ask about it... He will most likely tell you.”

One eye.

Did Lefty get into a fight?

How could Lonely Freddy fight a bear that was more than triple his size? Alec found Lefty intimidating still and he had known him for three days by this point, Alec had seen Helpy being completely calm around Lefty because he was super kind to him, so clearly, his size didn’t bother Helpy.

Something wasn’t right here. Lefty's hatred for Lonely Freddy must have started somewhere, he was apprehensive of Alec initially and that suggested something. It left Alec wondering about the existence of the lock again, **_what was it supposed to keep out?_**


End file.
